Teenager Paul Huber ready to defend title in 75th annual Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Paul Huber was 16 years old when he won the Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur golf tournament last summer. He displayed remarkable poise and confidence for someone that age during two rounds of match play and two rounds of medal play to take the title. This week, the talented teenager will try to do it all again.

Huber is one of 34 golfers registered to compete in the 75th annual Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur that begins Monday with an 18-hole qualifying round at Highland Country Club in Fort Thomas.  The defending champion is guaranteed the No. 1 seed for match play on Tuesday, but that’s the only break Huber expects to get as he tries to join the list of 12 repeat champions in the history of the tournament that was first played in 1940.

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Paul Huber, 17, is defending champion of the Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur that begins Monday (Photo from Golf Week Junior Tour)

“It’s definitely a new experience,” Huber said. “I’ve never come back and defended like this so it’s going to be interesting to see how I handle myself. But I’m still one of the younger guys so I think they still consider me like an underdog.”

After Monday’s opening round, the golfers will be split into flights. The top 15 scorers and Huber will be put in the championship flight. After going through two days of match play, the four finalists in that flight will then compete in 36 holes of medal play on Thursday to decide the champion.

“I do like match play. I think it’s a lot more fun and a lot more intense,” Huber said. “Then it’s a different mindset (in medal play) because you go from playing your opponent to playing the course. It’s definitely a mind game, but I liked it a lot last year.”

When Huber graduated from Covington Catholic High School in May, he already had a college scholarship lined up. He signed a letter of intent with the University of Cincinnati men’s golf team last November. The Bearcats recruited him because he placed among the top 10 in the Kentucky high school boys’ state golf tournament as a sophomore and junior. He capped off his high school career by placing eighth in the season finale as a senior.

Huber actually made a verbal commitment with UC last summer, a few days before he won the 2014 Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur that was played at Triple Crown County Club. In the final two rounds of medal play, he shot 70 and 75 for a 145 total that was two strokes better than runner-up Lance Lucas.

Lucas isn’t playing in this year’s event, but several other tournament veterans are in the field. Some of the contenders are Highland Country Club members who are very familiar with the hilly layout of the par-70 course.

“I’m familiar with the front nine, but I’ve never played the back nine,” Huber said. “I’ve heard if you hit it in the wrong spot there it might be a long day. On a course like that, I’ll definitely play more target golf and try to get good position.”

Huber played in two previous tournaments this summer. He missed the cut in the qualifying round of the Kentucky State Amateur and lost in the first round of match play in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Amateur Championship.  He’s hoping to do much better this week.

“I haven’t played a whole lot, but I think my game is coming around,” he said. “In my last tournament, I thought I hit the ball a lot better than I have been all year so I’m ready.”

Tee times for Monday’s qualifying round are listed on the Northern Kentucky Golf Association website.


2 thoughts on “Teenager Paul Huber ready to defend title in 75th annual Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur

  1. I enjoyed the article, but second place isn’t so bad. It would be very interesting to review the past 74 champions and the courses they played to win the tournament. Does such a list exist?

  2. I really enjoy the consistent interest in Northern Kentucky golf considering we sometimes feel like the kid sister to Cincinnati.

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